3 Govt Offices In Blame Game Over Recovered Abacha Loot

Late Sani Abacha

Discoveries of loots traced to the former Military Head of State, Late Sani Abacha has left three government offices at loggerheads.

According to a report published by The Nation, the Offices of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are in a blame game in court over which one of them is in custody of what was recovered from the money looted from the nation’s treasury by the Late Gen. Sani Abacha.

It was gathered that while the EFCC said the recovered funds could be accounted for by the offices of the AGF and the NSA, they have both denied knowledge of what has been recovered and where it is being kept.

The heated controversy came to limelight after a suit filed by a group, the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP), seeking information about the state of the recovered loot was brought before the court.

It would be recalled that LEDAP, in 2011, introduced the suit under the Freedom of Information Act after the EFCC which was earlier named as the sole defendant, refused its request for the information.

LEDAP will later join the AGF and the NSA when the EFCC, in a counter-affidavit, said it was only offices of the AGF and NSA that could account for the recovered looted funds.

An EFCC official, Austin Emmumejakpor, said in the counter-affidavit of March 5, 2012, that he was“informed that remittances relating to the estate of the late Gen. Abacha were coordinated by the offices of the National Security Adviser and the Attorney-General of the Federation and not the respondent (EFCC) as erroneously thought by the applicant.”

Reacting to the EFCC allegations in separate counter-affidavit dated March 25, 2014 and January 28, 2015, the offices of the AGF and NSA denied knowledge of details of the recovered loots. They urged the court to excuse them from the suit saying: “That the 1st and 2nd parties sought to be joined (AGF and NSA) did not coordinate the remittances relating to the estate of late Gen. Abacha.”

In the counter-affidavit of January 28, 2015, it was stated that: “The 2nd party sought to be joined is neither in custody nor in possession of information relating to the remittances referred to in paragraph 5 above. The 2nd party sought to be joined is neither a necessary party nor an indispensable party in this suit.”

However, lawyer to the petitioner, Chino Obiagwu, said that both the offices of AGF and the NSA are parties necessary for the fair determination of the case.

He stated that by virtue of the provisions of Section 21 of the FoI Act, 2011, “the onus is on such body to prove that the information is not within its control”.

This controversial development comes just a month after a new loot of $370 million was traced to the late Sani Abacha in Luxembourg.